


The Ghost of Honeymoon Past

by Ruuger



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Episode: s05e11 Day of the Dead, Gen, Ghosts, Season/Series 05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 05:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5116856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruuger/pseuds/Ruuger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Franklin gets a visitor during Day of the Dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ghost of Honeymoon Past

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Muccamukk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muccamukk/gifts).



> A very quick last minute treat, so my apologies for any typos and other weirdness that I may have missed. Feel free to point them out if you spot any.

It was long past the time when most of the populace of Babylon 5 usually retired for the night, but when Franklin stepped out of the turbolift at his floor, he found the corridor packed with people. The walls were lined with make-shift stalls selling food and souvenirs, the spaces between them filled with excitedly chattering brakiri. Franklin had overheard in the messhall that Lochley had sold a part of the station to the brakiri for the night because of some ritual, but he hadn't realised that his quarters were smack in the middle of that area.

One particularly enterprising brakiri merchant had set up his stall right in front of the door to Franklin's quarters, and refused to take no for an answer as he presented his wares to Franklin one by one.

"Human need food for Day of the Dead. Human not night creature, need food to stay awake." 

"No thank you," Franklin said, showing a take-away heatpac to the vendor. "I already have dinner."

"For dessert," the brakiri insisted, proffering a sugar skull at Franklin. "For very good luck."

"All right, fine." Franklin fished a couple of credits from his pocket and gave them to the brakiri. Satisfied, the merchant stepped aside and allowed Franklin to finally enter his quarters.

Once inside, Franklin tossed the heatpac on the table and went to change his clothes. He needed a shower, but what he needed even more was a hot dinner, and so he changed into sweatpants and settled on the couch with the heatpac in his lap. The food smelled delicious, though if he was being perfectly honest, after a 16-hour shift he'd probably have found pak'ma'ra cuisine delicious. He grabbed a remote to turn on a vid, and opened the take-away container.

There was a sound like an engine winding down, and everything went dark. A few seconds later the emergency systems kicked in, and the room was bathed in red light. 

"Oh for the love of..." Franklin put down his fork and the remote, and tapped his link. "Franklin to medlab."

_Unable to comply. Desired location is out of range._

He tried again. "Franklin to C& C."

_Unable to comply. Desired location is out of range._

"Damnit. Franklin to sec-"

He was interrupted by a quiet moan coming from across the room. He peered into the shadows cast by the emergency lights.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

As the moaning continued, Franklin tried to remember if there had been anything strange or out of place in his quarters when he'd entered. Surely it would have been impossible for anyone to hide without noticing in a room as small as his. He set his dinner down on the table and headed towards the sound.

It was coming from the farthest corner of the room, and if he strained his eyes, he could see a faint shape in the shadows, almost like a face, There was something familiar about that face, and Franklin took a step closer, his curiosity overriding his self-preservation instincts.

"Is there someo-"

"Boo!"

Franklin jumped back, startled. "What the-"

The shadows shifted, and a familiar figure stepped into the light. "I'd rattle my chains, but I seem to have left them with my other body."

"Marcus?" Franklin shook his head, taking another step back. "That's impossible, you're dead." 

For a moment he wondered if he was having some kind of a psychotic breakdown, a delayed stress reaction caused by the war, perhaps. He reached for his link again, when from the corner of his eyes he caught sight of the sugar skull on the table.

"Of course. The Brakiri. The Day of the Dead. They must have released some kind of hallucinogenic agents into the air recycling system as a part of their rituals." 

He walked to his kitchenette, trying to ignore the fact that the thing that wasn't Marcus was following him, and picked up the sugar skull. "Or maybe there was something in the sugar skull, some substance that enters the bloodstream through the skin, and-"

Marcus snatched the skull from his hands.

"Is that what you think I am? An undigested bit of beef, a fragment of an underdone potato?"

"No, I don't," Franklin snapped, "because I never had a chance to eat my dinner because for some reason it seems that you can't get a moment's peace in this damned place without something going wrong!" He sighed. "Fine, if you're not just in my head, then what are you?"

"A ghost."

Marcus raised a hand to silence him before he could object.

"You've seen far stranger things, Stephen. Why should a simple ghost be beyond the limits of your belief? But if it makes you feel better, you can think of me as a reflection of a soul that once walked on this station, vestiges of energy caught outside time, and made manifest by the synapses of your brain."

"And now you're haunting my quarters? Why?"

"Why do ghosts usually return? Because they have unfinished business."

"What unfinished business?"

Marcus shrugged his shoulders, and sat down on the couch. "Well, for one thing, our marriage was never consummated. That counts as unfinished business, wouldn't you think?"

Franklin ran his hand across his face. "For the last time, Marcus, we were never really married"

Marcus leaned back, an exaggerated look of sadness on his face. "I died a virgin, Stephen. Have you no pity?"

"Wait, you what?" Franklin raised his hands and shook his head. "No, forget it, I don't want to know. And why did you come to me about it?"

"For better or for worse, Stephen! In sickness and health, in life and in death! Didn't the vows mean anything to you?" He shrugged. "Besides, I doubt Sheridan would be any more accommodating." Marcus went quiet for a moment, staring into the distance. "And in any case, he has others who wish to speak to him."

"You did not come back from the dead just because our fake marriage was never consummated! And I'm not having an argument with a hallucination!"

"If I really am just a figment of your imagination, then what does it say about your subconsciousness that you'd hallucinate me coming back from the dead just to have sex with you?"

Franklin was about to object when he realised that Marcus was smiling. He shook his head and sat down on the couch next to him. "I miss you, Marcus."

Marcus patted his knee. "I've missed you too, Stephen.

Franklin leaned back and closed his eyes. "I tried to save you, you know, I really did. We were being jammed, and when I finally got back to the station, it was already too late. I should never have kept the device, I knew it was too dangerous, but I- I just couldn't destroy it." He opened his eyes again and stared at the ceiling. "I kept it, because that device had the potential to be the most important medical breakthrough since penicillin, and I wanted to be the one to make it work. And now you're dead because of it." He sighed. "Why are you here, really?"

"I told you, it's because we have unfinished business, Stephen."

Franklin couldn't help laughing. "Oh no, virgin or no virgin, I'm not having sex with you"

He waited for a few seconds for Marcus to make some sarcastic retort, but Marcus remained silent. He turned his head to find Marcus looking at him sadly.

"What happened to me wasn't your fault. I did what I did fully aware of what the price would be. There was no force in the universe that could have stopped me."

"There should have been something I could have done."

"There wasn't, but there are two things that you can do to me now."

"What?"

"Look after Susan for me. Make sure that she's okay."

Franklin nodded, feeling the burn of tears at the back of his throat. He blinked them away. "And the second thing?"

"Look after yourself as well. You need to live, Stephen, and you have to accept the fact that you're alive. Promise me that you won't waste the rest of your life because of what I did."

"Or what, you'll come back to haunt me again?"

Marcus gave him another sad smile. "I would if I could," he said, and then leaned back again.

They sat there in silence, side by side, for a few minutes. Finally Franklin broke the silence.

"Isn't this the part where you're supposed to disappear? I get my message from the beyond and the peace that I've been craving, and you vanish into the morning light, your purpose on Earth finally fulfilled?"

Marcus shook his head. "Nope. It's still five hours until planetary sunrise." He grinned, and rested his head on Franklin's shoulder. "Plenty of time to left enjoy each others' company." 

Franklin rolled his eyes, but didn't push Marcus away. "I'm still not having sex with you."

"We'll see. The night is young."

"Not gonna happen. You're just going to find something else to entertain yourself."

"I could always sing."

"No!"


End file.
